Saturday, May 31, 2008

Cystic Fibrosis teen awaits double-lung transplant

I have many friends whose lives have been impacted by Cystic Fibrosis and I'll continue to highlight personal stories such as this. Not only do patients suffer from the devastating effects of the disease, but their loved ones experience a lifetime of stress as well.

"The chronic disease affects the lungs and digestive system because of a defective gene that causes the body to produce unusually thick mucus that clogs the lungs and leads to life-threatening lung infections"

From Mlive.com in Michigan:

by Heather Lynn Peters
HART TWP.(Michigan) --Â In many ways, Natasha Miller is like any other teenage girl: She has a dog named Daisy, loves desserts and has a driver's permit.

But unlike her peers who are looking forward to new cars, new jobs and new adventures this summer, 17-year-old Natasha is hoping for something else -- a new set of lungs.

Having different "needs" than her friends is something Natasha, who was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis as an infant, has learned to embrace.

"I like the fact that I'm different. I'm not in a good way, but being like everyone else is not any fun. I like having responsibilities," she said.

"Everyone is like, 'I've got to worry about my hair!' and I'm like, 'I have to worry about my medicine.' "

Natasha, a junior at Hart High School, was diagnosed with the disease when she was 3 weeks old. For years she's managed the disease with prescription drugs and a pulmonary vest she wears at home to help her breath.

But now, in an effort to prolong Natasha's life, physicians say the teen needs a double lung transplant.

The articulate, self-proclaimed "loner" said she doesn't like to think about the transplant, but understands, "I need it."

Natasha hopes after the transplant people will forget she's sick.

"Kids at school say, 'I know she's different -- I don't know why -- but I know she's different.' It's hard for people to understand it," she said.

The chronic disease affects the lungs and digestive system because of a defective gene that causes the body to produce unusually thick mucus that clogs the lungs and leads to life-threatening lung infections, according to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Because the defective gene is in all the cells of the body, a new set of lungs is likely a temporary solution.

Natasha currently lives with her father, Phil Miller, a 19-year-old brother, and her grandmother, Sally Lancaster, at 1655 W. Lever in Hart Township.

Lancaster said Miller cares for his daughter "24-7." The single father has adapted to the role of full-time "caretaker" and understands Natasha's disease, Lancaster said.

"When it's there from the get-go, it's like riding a bike or learning to jump rope. It's just there. It's not unusual. It's become an everyday thing," Lancaster said.

Lancaster describes Natasha as "very determined" and someone who tries her best to be "an average child."

Natasha's family is hoping to buy her time. In 2006, the median age of survival was 37 for those living with the disease, according to the foundation's Web site.

"It's going to happen," she said of losing Natasha someday. "But you want to postpone it as long as possible. You just have to say, 'Today's today and this is where we're at and we're good.'"

Natasha, a former member of the high school drama club, currently interns at the Oceana Herald-Journal, enjoys photography, drawing and writing.

"She is a joy to be around," Lancaster said. "She can't run or do heavy exercise or walk a long way. That gives her a problem. But she compensates: When she's tired, she rests, and when she's energetic, she goes."

Natasha receives two treatments a year at St. Louis (Missouri) Children's Hospital, which specializes in children's lung transplants.

In 2003, she was placed on a donor list, but Natasha wasn't "sick enough" to receive any organs at that time, Lancaster said.

However, this past year Natasha has been sick often, making her "eligible" to receive donated lungs, said longtime family friend, Pastor Lorraine Boucon of Hart Congregational United Church of Christ in Hart.

When the organs are available, the Millers likely will have to move near the hospital in order to receive proper medical care, Boucon said. Boucon is heading up a benefit Friday for Natasha at the West Michigan Masonic Center in Hart to help cover various expenses.

"It could be six months before the (lungs are) available. We don't know how long it will be, but we know it could be expensive," Boucon said. "That's the reason we're trying to raise money."

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network
For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

Your generosity can save up to eight lives through organ donation and enhance another 50 through cornea and tissue donation

Friday, May 30, 2008

Liver transplant patient set alight during surgery sues doctors and hospital

From the Canadian Press:

VANCOUVER — A Vernon, B.C., man is suing his doctors, Vancouver General Hospital and the local health authority after a heart-stopping liver transplant during which he was set aflame.

During the transplant surgery in February 2006, Robbin Reeves's heart stopped and doctors performed an open cardiac massage.

Reeves's lawsuit claims doctors tore one of the chambers of his heart and, in the rush to prepare for the emergency surgery, alcohol on his neck and shoulder caught fire, leaving him with serious burns.

Six months after the surgery doctors removed a broken sternal wire from his chest and then, in July 2006, he found out the first liver transplant failed and he had another transplant surgery last year.

Reeves's B.C. Supreme Court lawsuit claims the defendants failed to meet a reasonable standard of care and he's claiming unspecified damages for negligence and costs.

No statement of defense has yet been filed.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network
For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

Your generosity can save up to eight lives through organ donation and enhance another 50 through cornea and tissue donation

Thursday, May 29, 2008

LUNG RECIPIENT RIDES TO CONQUER CANCER

Grant Hagerty (click for larger view)

Two years ago Grant Hagerty could barely breathe on his own; today after a lung transplant he is helping to save lives (click image for larger view)

Press release from Trillium Gift of Life Network

May 28, 2008 – Toronto, ON – Less than two years ago Grant Hagerty required 24/7 oxygen support, could barely walk up a flight of stairs and, in his words, “was on deaths doorstep.”

Today, after receiving a lung transplant Hagerty has returned to living a full life including skiing, swimming and running. Hagerty is also dedicating himself to raise awareness to help conquer cancer.

“Grant is an outstanding man and a true advocate for this incredible cause,” said Frank Markel, President and CEO of Trillium Gift of Life Network (TGLN). “After his transplant, Grant returned to life to the fullest and helping so many others, so they to will have the chance to live a full life, whether that be surviving cancer or receiving an organ transplant.”

Hagerty is taking part in the Ride to Conquer Cancer, benefiting the Princess Margaret Hospital.

“The same dedicated initiatives that saved my life are working to strangle a disease that cripples families and steals our loved ones. I'm a post lung transplant patient and owe my existence today to the excellence in research and execution of the medical community,” said Hagerty of Waterloo, Ontario. “The Cancer Program at Princess Margaret is a major gateway to halting that pain, suffering, and loss with an impact that can be felt throughout the world.”

Hagerty will begin his ‘epic’ journey in Toronto on June 21 and pedal 225 km (140 miles) over two days and arrive in Niagara Falls on June 22.

“Life is a series of choices and you can choose to make a difference. Please donate, you can help to save a life today,” said Hagerty.

To get more information on the Ride to Conquer Cancer or to help Hagerty reach his goal to raise $10,000 for cancer research please visit Team Transplant.

For more details on Trillium Gift of Life Network please visit our website or call 416-363-4001 or toll free 1-800-263-2833.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network
For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

Your generosity can save up to eight lives through organ donation and enhance another 50 through cornea and tissue donation

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

After heart transplant, John Hieta had a full life

John Hieta loved to go fishing with his grandkids. Here he holds up a monster salmon he and grandson John caught on a recent trip.
Photo Courtesy of the Hieta family

From BC Local News.com:

“When he had the transplant he became a different kind of person, he took life one day at a time and he didn’t let things bother him. I think he enjoyed life more.”

By Doug Marner - Lake Cowichan Gazette
John Hieta always believed that every day after December 15, 1996 was a gift to him because of a heart transplant he received.

Hieta sadly passed away on May 17 at age 65, but his family said he was grateful for the extra years he had.

“He always said he could die tomorrow and it would be okay,” said Rod Peters, Hieta’s brother-in-law and fishing buddy.

One of the greatest joys for Hieta was his grandchildren, three who were born after his heart transplant. Every weekend during the hockey season you would see John and Joan, his wife, at the arena watching their grandsons play hockey.

“He really doted his grandchildren,” said Peters. “He was always at their ball games and hockey games and he took them fishing whenever he could.”

Hieta was born in Duncan on September 16, 1942 and he grew up in Youbou, where his father worked at the lumbermill. He eventually worked at the same sawmill and became head sawyer before he went on compensation for his back.

He was a longtime member of the Lake Cowichan Fire Deparment and became a lifetime member.

In the early fall of 1996, Hieta went to the hospital because of what he thought was his bad back acting up. It was, in fact, a serious heart attack. Doctors told him there were major blockages in his heart that created dead muscle tissue. A transplant was the only way to help him have as normal a life as possible.

The transplant went so well, Hieta was back home 10 days after the surgery, on Christmas Day.

Hieta always urged people to fill out an organ donor card because there is always a waiting list of patients who need an organ. For more information on organ donation, go to BC Transplant.

“When he had the transplant he became a different kind of person,” said Peters. “He took life one day at a time and he didn’t let things bother him. I think he enjoyed life more.”

Enjoy life he did, going fishing or hunting whenever he could, travelling with Joan to places like Finland, where his family comes from, and spending time with his grandkids.

John Hieta is survived by his wife Joan, sons John (Jodi), Bill (Jen) and Rodney (Kirsten) and sister Ann Balogh, as well as seven grandchildren — Amanda, Tanner, John, Daniel, Colton, Tyler, Hunter and Kyle — and countless family and friends.

A celebration of John Hieta’s life was held at Rod and Karen Peters’ house last Thursday, with more than 200 people attending. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the cystic fibrosis trust fund at the Island Savings Credit Union in Lake Cowichan.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network
For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

Your generosity can save up to eight lives through organ donation and enhance another 50 through cornea and tissue donation

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Kentucky woman has unusual lung transplant

As donation after cardiac death becomes widely acceptable it will have a definite impact on the rate of organ donation. Congratulations to the UK Medical Center for being a leader in this area.

From the Lexington Herald-Leader :

Pikeville, KY woman has unusual lung transplant at University of Kentucky Medical Center

By Jack Brammer
For the first time in Kentucky, a full set of lungs has been transplanted to a patient from a donor who suffered cardiac death as opposed to brain death only.

The unusual surgery is referred to as "non-heart beating donation" or "donation after cardiac death," and is touted as a way to expand the pool of organ donations.

Only 12 such operations were performed in the United States last year, said Dr. Timothy Mullett, director of the lung transplant program at the hospital who performed the transplant with Dr. Mark Bonnell and Dr. Hassan Reda.

The delicate five-hour operation took place Saturday morning at the University of Kentucky Medical Center to benefit Rebecca Boyd, 23, of Pikeville, who was suffering with cystic fibrosis, Mullett said.

"She looks very good. She is responsive. I expect the ventilator will come off tomorrow," said Mullett in an interview Sunday.

The patient's mother, Tamie Thacker, issued a statement through the hospital. She said, "Nobody knows how grateful we are. I want to thank the family who helped make this possible. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family who made the donation."

Mullett did not identify the donor but said the person was "non-local."

UK and the University of Louisville have performed liver and kidney transplants from donations after cardiac death, but this marks the first time for a lung transplant, he said.

Most organ donations occur after brain death. The donors have suffered complete and irreversible loss of brain function and are clinically and legally dead. Mechanical ventilation such as respirators and medications keep their heart beating and blood flowing to their organs.

Some donations occur from living donors, such as when a living person donates a kidney to a recipient.

So far this year, UK has performed 12 lung transplants and is on schedule to do 25 to 30, Mullett said. The hospital did 18 last year.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network
For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

Your generosity can save up to eight lives through organ donation and enhance another 50 through cornea and tissue donation

Monday, May 26, 2008

Student graduates from high school despite cystic fibrosis

From the Orland Sentinal in Florida:

ORANGE CITY - -One year after doctors had expected she would die, Cynthia Thomas, then 13 years old, wrote a list of the 21 things she wanted to do before turning 21.

get a tattoo. catch a fish. learn to drive a stick shift.

They were just cursive notes to herself, really -- simplistic proposals in small capital letters with the potential highlights of her life.

Cynthia has known for years that she will probably die sooner than others because she has cystic fibrosis. There is no cure for the disease. Its only prognosis is death.

"She knows what the outcome of this disease is. She knew from a very early age," said her father, Pat Thomas. "It's not pretty. Unless you get a lung transplant, there's only one option: passing away."

Although her prognosis hasn't changed, some of Cynthia's priorities have. She is 18 now and a recent graduate of DeLand High School. She dual-enrolled at Daytona Beach College and earned her 3.86 grade-point average from home.

"The only thing honestly I've ever wanted to do [is] . . . I wanted to walk. I didn't want to just get my diploma. I wanted to walk across the stage," Cynthia said two days before Friday's ceremony. "That was my biggest thing."

Walking across the stage seemed a given when Cynthia wrote her list. But she got so sick that, in eighth grade, she could only learn from home.

"All the kids that are graduating now are the kids I actually started school with, from elementary on," Cynthia said. "Even though I don't know them all, it'd be my class, either way."

Doctors didn't expect Cynthia to live to be a teenager. But somehow, she has pulled through, even as she waits for a double-lung transplant from Shands Hospital in Gainesville.

'I'm fine'

Had this been the 1950s, Cynthia probably would not have lived to go to elementary school. These days, some people with cystic fibrosis live into their 30s.

The genetic disease damages Cynthia's digestive system and clogs her lungs with thick mucus, making it difficult for her to breathe and prompting her to cough incessantly. She has been hospitalized numerous times because of pneumonia and has been diagnosed with diabetes and osteoporosis.

She tries not to let on that something is wrong. People will see her coughing and ask if she is OK as they watch her face turn beet red as she struggles to breathe.

"I'm fine," she'll say.

There are still some people who don't know she has the disease.

"I was just hoping that nobody saw it or heard it, and I'd just pretend that they didn't," Cynthia recalled. "I wanted to be like the kids next to me. I didn't want to be the odd one."

Cynthia's family never allied itself with large support groups for children with cystic fibrosis. But she did make a friend in Corey Wheeler, whom she had known since kindergarten and who also had cystic fibrosis. He died last year from an infection in his digestive system as he was recovering from a lung transplant. Corey was 17.

"It was emotional because we have to think about our future, too. We had almost decided we're not going to do the transplant," Pat Thomas said. "I've always cared about her quality of life. I don't have a say-so on when my daughter leaves this earth. But I have control on her quality of life."

Cynthia's parents have always assured her that she can stop fighting if the pain gets to be too much. They have decided to still hope for a transplant, but the concept remains a lot to take in. Read the complete article.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network
For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

Your generosity can save up to eight lives through organ donation and enhance another 50 through cornea and tissue donation

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Heart transplant recipient continues to recover

From the Sun-Sentinel in Florida:

Erik Compton continues to recover, inspire with his won't-quit spirit

By Randall Mell
Miami's Erik Compton headed to the second heart transplant surgery of his young life determined to do more than recover.

"I'm going to be the comeback kid," Compton told his longtime friend and mentor, Charlie DeLucca, a couple hours before surgery.

Compton, 28, was doing well when DeLucca, chairman of the Miami-Dade Amateur Golf Association, visited Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital on Friday
He didn't get to see Compton, who was still in intensive care, but the reports he got from Erik's parents were uplifting. Erik underwent six-and-a-half hours of surgery early Tuesday morning.

"He's off the ventilator, breathing on his own and his heart's working," said DeLucca, a close friend to Compton and his parents, Peter and Eli. "Everything's positive.

"His second day he was out of bed and sitting in a chair."

Compton, the former No. 1 junior in the nation and Georgia All-American, touched lives with his golf that reached beyond the game.

That will be evident when the second annual Partners Golf Classic presented by the Boucher Brothers is played June 5 at Miami Beach Golf Club. It's a fundraiser for the Transplant Foundation, an organization affiliated with the Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami. It's also a fundraiser for the Kiwanis Club.

At 12, Compton didn't just become the youngest heart transplant recipient of the time at Jackson Memorial. He became an inspiration for other recovering transplant patients.

As a pro, Compton won on the Canadian Tour, Hooters Tour and internationally as a pro. He was working toward winning his PGA Tour card when his heart began to fail last fall.

Ten years ago Saturday, in my first account of Erik's remarkable heart transplant story, I quoted the director of Jackson Memorial's pediatric heart transplant program at that time on the impact of Erik's golf.

"People have the idea organ transplant recipients will look different, be different, but Erik shows you can have a transplant and lead a normal life," Dr. Lee Ann Pearse told me back then. "He looks like anybody else. You would never know what he's gone through, and he's happily pursuing his dreams and goals. He's making such a positive statement."

Jim McLean, Compton's teacher and friend, is among those inspired by the statement Compton's eager to continue to make.

"With a new heart, anything's possible," McLean said. "Erik showed us that. He has such an indomitable spirit."

Compton's story also impacts lifesaving organ donor programs. His mother, Eli, became so devoted to the cause that today she's the executive director of the Transplant Foundation. That organization's missions include the funding of transplant research and education on the importance of organ donation.

Before his surgery, Compton released this statement to promote the Partners Golf Classic: "It's important for individuals to know that they can make a difference in a person's life by participating in charity events. Their assistance grants the Foundation with the opportunity to continue providing education to the community about the importance of organ donation and provide aid to those patients who need it most."

For more information on the tournament, go to Transplant Foundation or call 305-817-5645..

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network
For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

Your generosity can save up to eight lives through organ donation and enhance another 50 through cornea and tissue donation

Friday, May 23, 2008

Organ donation can ensure life for others

From The Intelligencer, Belleville, Ontario, Canada:

"There is no good reason not to be an organ donor. Giving life to another is the best way to truly make a difference in someone's life. This is a gift we should all seriously consider giving"

Many Canadians put forth a genuine effort to help make our country a better place. From volunteering to recycling, we strive to do our part to make our country and its people better.

It is all part of a very natural human desire to have our lives mean something.

And yet despite all our conscientiousness, there is one area where we are failing miserably - organ donation.

In Ontario, the need for organs and tissue donations continues to outweigh their availability. According to the Trillium Gift of Life Network, more than 1,800 Ontarians are waiting for an organ transplant and many others are waiting for a tissue transplant. In 2004, a total of 122 Ontarians died waiting.

This is truly sad. It is also unnecessary - statistics show many people are in favour of organ donation. The problem is, not enough people are acting on their beliefs.

The first step to becoming an organ donor is by making your decision known, either by signing an organ and tissue donor card or by registering your consent through your provincial registry, Health Canada states on its website. However, deciding to become an organ donor is not enough. You must discuss the issue with your loved ones.

Many fear organ donation is a very invasive process, making some relatives leery of giving their consent. Organ donation is not an invasive process, however - open-casket funerals are still possible. When clothed, the body shows no outward sign of surgery. (See Common Myths About Organ Transplants)

Also, in most parts of the country, doctors will not proceed with organ donation without the consent of the family.

A death in the family is a sad and stressful time and making such a decision is not easy for the next of kin - only 58 per cent of relatives agree when they have not been included in the process in advance whereas 96 per cent agree if they already know the wishes of the donor.

Local couple Don Tyerman and Katherine Lawrie-Tyerman are truly an example to follow.

Two years ago, a tragic car accident left Katherine in hospital brain dead. And because the couple had discussed their wishes years before, Tyerman knew exactly what his wife of 16 years would want him to do.

Tyerman still remembers her words: "If I should end up in a bed that I can't get out of, I want you to turn the machine off," she said. "I don't want to be a burden to others. I want my organs to be used to help others.

"The person that we knew was gone," said Tyerman. "I knew exactly what the next step was. She had told me. I had to honour her wishes, no matter what."

Katherine's family - who supported the donation - was with her as life support ended and her body died. While a severe fever meant some previously healthy organs couldn't be used, her kidneys and eyes would later be transplanted.

Tyerman said he takes comfort in having granted Katherine's wishes, and has worked to raise awareness of the need for such donations.

"There's no question that there's a healing component to it as well - the notion that her death, her loss, was not a waste," he said.

"It's important to think that someone else's family is not going to be going through what we're going through. In a sense it made losing my partner easier."

Despite some beliefs, organ donations are not a longshot. Health Canada reports nearly 98 per cent of all kidney transplants, 90 per cent of liver transplants, and 85 per cent of heart transplants are successful.

Transplants also make good economic sense. For instance, Health Canada says the cost of a kidney transplant averages $20,000 plus $6,000 per year thereafter - $50,000 over five years. Maintaining a kidney patient on dialysis costs $50,000 per year which translates into $250,000 over five years.

There is no good reason not to be an organ donor. Giving life to another is the best way to truly make a difference in someone's life. This is a gift we should all seriously consider giving.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network
For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

Your generosity can save up to eight lives through organ donation and enhance another 50 through cornea and tissue donation

Thursday, May 22, 2008

West Virginia Website Makes Organ Donation Easy

Congratulations to West Virginia for taking a leading role in enabling individuals to register as organ and tissue donors.

From HuntingtonNews.net:

Charleston, WV (HNN) -- The West Virginia Department of Transportation, Division of Motor Vehicles with the collaborative efforts of the Center for Organ Recovery & Education (CORE), Lifeline of Ohio and Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates has developed a new online website that will enable individuals to sign up as organ donors rather than visiting a DMV office in person.

The website, DonateLife.wv.gov will allow visitors to add the donor designation by entering their driver’s license/photo ID number, date of birth and the last four digits of their social security number. The entire process takes an average of less than 90 seconds, and could save and enhance more than 50 lives.

“Studies have shown that most Americans believe in the power of saving lives through organ and tissue donation,” said DMV Commissioner Joseph Cicchirillo. “It was time to make the process of registering as a designated organ donor as simple as possible, so that more lives can be saved. Currently, only 37% of West Virginians who are registered drivers are designated as organ donors. We’d like to see an increase in the number of designations. The need is great in West Virginia and donors could be helping their neighbors.”

Currently, 200 West Virginians await a life-saving organ transplant, of the total 98,656 waiting nationwide. The number of organ donors has nearly doubled since 1994, however, there is still a need for donors. Everyday 18 to 20 people die waiting for a life-saving organ transplant.

CORE is a regional not-for-profit agency that is the primary call center and intermediary for the organ recovery and allocation process that serves 156 hospitals and more than six million people in western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Chemung County, New York. CORE has helped to pioneer organ procurement allocation and recovery for this region since it was founded in 1977 as the Pittsburgh Transplant Foundation.

In connection, West Virginia Organ Donor vehicle license plates are available. For more information on the plate and CORE, visit the DMV website or call 304-558-3900.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network
For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

Your generosity can save up to eight lives through organ donation and enhance another 50 through cornea and tissue donation

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

AST Encourages Employers to Adopt Paid Leave Policies for Living Organ Donors via Awareness Campaign Effort

Press release posted on The Earth Times:

MT. LAUREL, N.J. - (Business Wire) The number of living organ donors can be increased if more employers offered paid leave to employees who act as live organ donors. That is the message of the American Society of Transplantation’s (AST) new outreach campaign, which is aimed at corporations, institutions and local/state governments.

“Living individuals who give a kidney or part of a liver to another person are heroes, and their stories are often told publicly. However, what goes unspoken is that potential living donors often cannot donate because of wages lost from work during recovery from surgery,” said Flavio Vincenti, MD, president of the AST.

Paid leave could also help ease the chronic shortage of organs in the U.S., where 3,700 new patients are added to the transplant waiting list each month and 18 die each day awaiting transplantation.

The new outreach campaign is in support of the AST’s Employee Leave and Organ Donation Program, which provides assistance and education to employers in establishing a paid leave program for living organ donation.

Living Donors: An Important Part of Organ Donation

Living donors are responsible for the organs in approximately 50% of kidney transplants, 10% of liver transplants and 2% of lung transplants. There were 6,306 live organ donations in 2007.

The recovery period for organ and tissue donation surgery varies by individual but is generally one week for bone marrow, four weeks for kidney and up to 12 weeks for liver and lung.

AST Program Aims to Boost Paid-Leave Participation

Currently, at least 40 institutions and corporations have paid leave policies for live donors. Twenty-nine states also have policies and many have related legislation pending. The federal government has had a paid leave policy since 1999.

“Paid leave for employees who give the gift of an organ to another person is gaining momentum in the U.S., but the participation of private industry and major institutions is needed to help it grow,” said Dr. Vincenti.

The outreach campaign includes “The Employee Leave and Organ Donation Program,” a new DVD from the AST, which describes how paid employee leave can help with the ongoing organ shortage. The AST will be using the DVD as part of its national outreach to employers and human resource professionals in 2008.

The AST also asks that members of its society, which include physicians, nurses, researchers and pharmacists, lobby their employers to adopt paid leave programs.

The AST provides technical assistance to employers who want to establish a paid leave policy for organ donors. The assistance includes: a sample human resources policy statement; a booklet that describes organ donation and related employee needs; copies of existing state and federal policies; and a news release template to announce the program.

About AST

The American Society of Transplantation is an international organization of transplant professionals dedicated to advancing the field of transplantation through the promotion of research, education, advocacy, and organ donation to improve patient care. The Society comprises more than 2,700 transplant physicians, surgeons and allied health professionals.

For more information about AST, please visit AST Web Site.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network
For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

Your generosity can save up to eight lives through organ donation and enhance another 50 through cornea and tissue donation

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Medical marijuana and organ transplants don't mix

From the Los Angeles Times:

Patients who have used doctor-prescribed pot are being turned away from hospital transplant programs.

SEATTLE -- Should using doctor-prescribed marijuana be a deal-breaker for someone needing an organ transplant? It is not a theoretical question but a pressing and emotional one confronting hospitals and patients in states where medical use of marijuana is legal.

This month, Timothy Garon, 56, a Seattle musician, died after being turned down for a liver transplant. He was rejected partly because he had used medical marijuana.

Now, a second critically ill patient in Washington state says he has been denied a spot in two organ transplant programs because he uses doctor-prescribed marijuana.

Jonathon Simchen, 33, of Fife, a town south of Seattle, is a diabetic whose kidneys and pancreas have failed.

He said he was removed from the transplant program at Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle because he admitted using medical marijuana. Later, he said, University of Washington Medical Center transplant officials refused to accept him because of the medical marijuana issue.

"I'm just so discouraged," said the community college student, who wants to be a teacher. "I've lost all remnants of hope. I look at my life right now as if it is a prison term. I just have to serve each day."

The lawyer who represented Garon has taken on Simchen's case.

Douglas Hiatt argues that his clients are the victims of a loosely defined transplant policy, one not based on science.

"They are really killing people over this," he said.

Hospital transplant programs, wanting to ensure the best possible outcome for each transplant and to make optimum use of the limited number of organs available, have strict standards about drug use and smoking in determining who is eligible for a transplant list.

Hiatt and advocates of medical marijuana are urging hospitals to adjust their policies after Garon's death May 1. Garon used marijuana with a doctor's approval to ease the symptoms of hepatitis C. He died without gaining admission to the University of Washington Medical Center's transplant program.

Hiatt wants to negotiate on behalf of Simchen to get him on a transplant list, but he expects he may have to file a lawsuit to get that accomplished. If nothing else, Hiatt intends to compel judicial review of the policy.

"No, it ain't over," Hiatt said. "Jonathon needs help. He's going to get on that list one way or another.

"You cannot treat people like this. There's no rational basis for it."

Although marijuana remains an illegal substance under federal law, about a dozen states, including Washington, Oregon, California and Nevada, allow doctors to prescribe it for medical purposes. It is used for conditions such as glaucoma, diabetes, high blood pressure and AIDS.

University of Washington officials, citing privacy laws, declined to discuss specifics of individual cases, but issued a statement acknowledging that they took marijuana use into consideration.

"Although medical marijuana may be an issue in rare cases, it is never the sole determinant in arriving at medical decisions about candidates for organ transplants," the statement said.

A spokeswoman for Virginia Mason Hospital said smoking of any kind could "lead to patient-safety and transplant-effectiveness issues" and was precluded. She said the hospital's transplant committee would also weigh a patient's use of medical marijuana in pill form.

At the University of Washington, the transplant committee said it reviewed "behavioral concerns such as a history of substance abuse or dependency. If such a history exists, then the committee looks at the period of abstinence the candidate has demonstrated to date," as well as the patient's efforts to maintain abstinence and potential to abuse again.

Asked why the committee considered marijuana use under a doctor's supervision "a history of substance abuse," a hospital spokesman cited the federal law categorizing marijuana as an illegal drug.

The United Network for Organ Sharing, which oversees the organ transplant system nationally, leaves it up to hospitals to determine how to allocate organs. The network's members include 254 U.S. transplant centers.

There are nearly 100,000 people on waiting lists for transplants, the network said. On average, there are about 6,000 donors a year.

Some medical ethicists say standardized written policies on marijuana use by transplant patients are needed. Read the full article.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network
For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

Your generosity can save up to eight lives through organ donation and enhance another 50 through tissue donation

Monday, May 19, 2008

New Tennessee state registry aims to boost organ donations

From WBIR.com:

Getting a heart transplant in Tennessee sometimes hinged on whether the Department of Safety was open.

That's because the bodies of potential organ donors frequently arrived at hospitals without driver's licenses. With no IDs, the only way to verify the wishes of the deceased was to contact the Department of Safety to see if they had checked the donor box on their driver's license applications.

"If it was at night, on the weekend or a state holiday, there was no way to determine whether a person wanted to donate," said Janet Jarrard, public education coordinator for Tennessee Donor Services, an organ procurement agency. "There were probably many people who wanted to donate but fell through the cracks."

Jarrard is hopeful that will change with Donate Life Tennessee, a new online registry that launched April 28. Tennesseans can go to Donor Registry and sign up to be an organ or tissue donor.

The registry allows the two organ procurement agencies in Tennessee - Tennessee Donor Services and Mid-South Transplant Foundation, serving Western Tennessee - to determine at any time if a person is an organ donor. Those agencies are notified by hospitals when someone from their coverage area dies, even when the death occurs out of state.

Jarrard said another benefit of the registry is that it's a legally binding contract. Previously, even if someone indicated on his driver's license application that he wanted to be a donor, it wasn't legally binding unless the back of his license was signed. The signatures often rubbed off the license or were never signed, leaving the decision up to families.

"It puts the family in the situation of having to make a very difficult decision, during a stressful time when they are overwhelmed by grief," said Dr. Mark Wigger, medical director of cardiac transplants at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. "A lot of times, families don't know whether the person wanted to be a donor or not."

Dr. Jeffrey Boord, a Vanderbilt University assistant professor of cardiology, said states that have implemented similar online registries have seen organ donations in crease. Tennessee is now one of about 45 states with such a system.

"If families have clear documentation of their loved ones' wishes, then it takes the burden off of them to make that decision," Boord said.

In Tennessee, more than 2,000 people are waiting for an organ transplant. In 2007, Boord said, 678 people received organ transplants and 127 people died waiting.

Information is detailed
Ashley Tollett, of Antioch, is one of the lucky ones.

A disease began causing her lungs to fail in 2005. She had to go on oxygen and was eventually hospitalized.

"Doctors called my family and said I wouldn't live for more than a few days without a transplant," Tollett said. "It came right in the nick of time."

Tollett, 21, said that since the 2006 transplant she has been feeling great. She said she's hopeful that the new online registry will help more people get the transplants they need.

"I am here today because of someone's selfless decision," Tollett said. "I can do anything with no limitations."

Jarrard said roughly a million Tennesseans have signed up to be organ donors. The goal is to double that number in three years.

Everyone who has indicated a desire to be an organ donor on his or her license in the past year and a half has had his or her information entered into the registry by the Department of Safety. The department will continue to enter information as people sign up in the future.

By signing up online, people can specify more detailed information, such as whether they want to give all of their organs or which ones they do want to donate. People can also indicate if they would be willing to donate their organs or tissue for research or educational purposes.

"One donor has the potential to save nine lives through organ donation, and enhance up to 50 more lives with cornea and tissue donation," Jarrard said.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network
For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

Your generosity can save up to eight lives through organ donation and enhance another 50 through tissue donation

The Transplant Open Golf Tournament
In Memory of Peter Laurence
Thursday, June 5, 2008

(REGISTRATION DEADLINE: MAY 25TH, 2008)

Peter was the chairman of the first three Transplant Open tournaments and he worked tirelessly to see that we raised as much money as we could for lung transplant research ($63,000 to date). He made many friends following his double-lung transplant in 2001 and dedicated himself to "giving back" to the lung transplant program at Toronto General Hospital and promoting organ donation awareness. He is sadly missed.


PETER JAMES LAURENCE
December 16, 1957 - September 30, 2007


This is a charitable fundraiser to raise money for lung transplant research at Toronto General Hospital in partnership with Toronto General & Western Hospital Foundation. Our golf committee has been working hard to build on the success of last year's tournament and it will once again be held at the highly rated Granite Ridge Golf Club just off highway 401 in Milton, Ontario which is a very convenient location to get to.

    THE TRANSPLANT OPEN
  • Thursday, June 5, 2008

  • Granite Ridge Golf Club, Milton, Ontario
    9503 Dublin Line, Milton, ON 905-878-5494
    Web site: Granite Ridge Golf Club

  • Registration: 12 P.M. - Shotgun start at 1 P.M.

  • Cost: Golf, Cart, Lunch, Dinner & Putting Contest $200 per person

  • Cost: Dinner only: $60

  • There will also be an exciting silent auction with many great prizes

Registration:
Tracey Jack: email or phone: 905-820-9012

Visa, Master Card and Amex accepted.
Make cheques payable to Toronto General & Western Hospital Foundation and mail to: Tracey Jack, 4171 Glen Erin Drive, Mississauga, ON L5L 2G3 (905) 820-9012.

You can help support and participate in this golf event by:
  • Organizing one or more golf foursomes.

  • Sponsoring a hole for $250.

  • If not able to golf, you can attend the dinner and silent auction.

  • Donate gifts for the prize table.

  • Donate prizes for the silent auction.

  • Volunteer your time to help organize the golf tournament or sell raffle tickets.

  • Make a financial contribution (tax receipts will be issued according to Revenue Canada Agency guidelines)
    Our charitable number is 12386 4068 RR0001.


Contact for prizes and gifts:
Kim Cassar: (905) 877-6886. email.
Carol Devlin: email or phone (416) 250-1469.


Our heartfelt thanks go to all who helped make last year's tournament a big success by raising $30,000 for transplant research.

We hope the 2008 event will be even better and we will very much appreciate your support and/or participation to help raise more money for Lung Transplant Research at Toronto General Hospital, in partnership with Toronto General & Western Hospital Foundation.

Toronto General Hospital is recognized as a world-class lung transplant center with some of the world’s leading research scientists and physicians. More lung transplants were performed by the Toronto General Lung Transplant Team than anywhere else in the world in 2004 (64) and that record was exceeded every year since with 100 transplants performed in 2007.

Some of the projects they are currently working on are ways to prevent rejection, tissue regeneration, tolerance (the body's ability to accept new organs without the high doses of anti-rejection drugs now required), and making donor lungs useable that are presently not acceptable for transplant (only about 2 of every 5 donor lungs are now useable).

No one likes rejection, especially lung transplant recipients and their support people. Those of us on the golf committee are very thankful for the “Gift of Life” and are now advocates for transplant research funding and thus this tournament.

We on the committee are proud to be part of this charitable event. Won’t you join us June 5th by participating in this golf tournament, dinner and fundraising event? The proceeds will help to improve the quality of life for transplant recipients and patients waiting for a lung transplant and their families.


Merv Sheppard
207-200 Shakespeare Drive
Waterloo, ON N2L 6C1
Phone (519) 746-1444
email

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network

Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

Your generosity can save up to eight lives through organ donation and enhance another 50 through tissue donation

Sunday, May 18, 2008

US regulators warn doctors of organ transplant drug's risks to pregnant women

Here is a further warning about the anti-rejection drug CellCept and it's potential to cause miscarriages and birth defects when used by pregnant women. See my post last month about patients who developed rare neurological problems while taking the drug.

From the International Herald Tribune:

WASHINGTON: Health regulators reiterated their warning Friday that organ transplant drugs from Roche and Novartis can cause miscarriages and birth defects when used by pregnant women.

The Food and Drug Administration previously said it received reports of miscarriages and infants born with ear and mouth birth defects after their mothers had taken Roche's CellCept.

FDA added its most serious warning to CellCept and a similar Novartis AG drug, Myfortic, last October, noting they can cause miscarriage and other serious problems when used by pregnant women. The drug is used to suppress the body's immune system to avoid organ rejection in transplant patients.

In a notice to physicians posted online Friday, the FDA recommended "confirming that a pregnancy has not occurred and ensuring that patients use effective contraceptive measures."

FDA said most of the reported problems came from mothers who were taking the drug before their pregnancies were detected. Some of the patients were taking the drugs for conditions they are not approved to treat, including rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.

A spokesman for Roche said it has not received new reports of miscarriages or birth defects since updating the drug's labeling. The company previously reported 25 miscarriages among 77 women exposed to the drug between 1995 and 2007.

The agency said it will continue working with Roche and Novartis to reduce use of the drugs by pregnant women.

Friday's FDA warning was the second in less than two months for CellCept, which was Roche's sixth best-selling drug last year with sales of nearly $2 billion (€1.3 billion).

The FDA said Last month it was investigating 16 patients who developed rare neurological problems while taking the drug.

The disease, known as progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, attacks the brain and central nervous system and is usually fatal. Symptoms include vision problems, loss of coordination and memory loss. Patients who survive are often permanently disabled, according to the FDA.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network
For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

Your generosity can save up to eight lives through organ donation and enhance another 50 through tissue donation

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Transplant trailblazer

Clarian Health's Indiana University Hospital gets national attention, but some question its zeal

This is a lengthy article but worth reading to the end for the story of how a transplant team has raised the bar and takes risks by using donor organs that other centers decline to use. It also provides an idea of the costs associated with some organ transplants.

From the Indianapolis Business Journal:

It’s Tuesday morning, and Dr. Jonathan Fridell has no transplants scheduled. But this day, like most, the surgeon at Clarian Health’s Indiana University Hospital won’t wait long for things to pick up.

By 9:45 a.m., the blue-scrub-clad Fridell is stamping up and down a hallway of offices on the hospital’s fourth floor, conferring with his fellow surgeons about a doubleheader, kidney-pancreas transplant that’s about to happen.

Clarian Health this decade has transformed its transplant program into one of the busiest in the country. Its team of surgeons takes calls around the clock if a viable organ becomes available. They will hop on a charter plane to check out an organ that other doctors don’t want.

“I’m listening to my phone at night for a call to come in,” said Dr. Joe Tector, the director of Clarian Transplant. Tector is also a professor at the IU School of Medicine.

Clarian’s rapid growth in transplants has drawn interest and even mimicry from other surgeons around the country. But some surgeons also have criticized Clarian and its methods—particularly the practice of accepting livers from sicker donors for patients not in critical need of a transplant.

Transplants are a big health issue—and big business—for academic medical centers like Clarian. A shortage of organs has left 99,000 people on a national waiting list. Hospitals would love to provide those needy patients—and willing customers—an organ, not least because they charge hundreds of thousands of dollars for every transplant they do.

The typical hospital bill for a liver transplant approaches $270,000, according to a 2005 study by Milliman Research. For intestinal transplants, the average charges are $695,000.

Those high charges also come with high costs for the hospital, said Ed Abel, a hospital accountant at Indianapolis-based Blue & Co. But for Clarian, which already had built up the equipment and staff to handle transplants, increasing the number of procedures can only add to profits.

“There’s got to be X amount of fixed costs,” Abel said, adding, “If you’re doubling the number [of transplants], it becomes more profitable.”

Transplant powerhouse

At 10:45 a.m., Fridell bends over a bowl of ice, holding a pancreas, in an operating room in the basement of the hospital. His gloved hands deftly tie sutures to close up openings in the organ.

An iPod connected to speakers blasts The Turtles’ song “Happy Together.” Fridell sings along.

At 11:15, the pancreas is sewn up and lying in a cooler, while another surgeon cuts open the patient’s abdomen. Fridell steps outside, but he’s not taking a break.

While he was preparing the pancreas, a nurse in the operating room took phone calls from the University of Michigan, whose transplant staff was offering another pancreas for transplant. Fridell now punches a number into his BlackBerry and, as he heads down the hall, says, “I think I just got a pancreas for a lady to move this afternoon.”

By juggling surgery and tracking down organs, doctors at Clarian performed 526 transplant surgeries last year, ranking the center No. 6 in the country. It topped all other hospitals for pancreas transplants. In 2005, Clarian ranked No. 3 in the nation, with 604 surgeries.

The number of transplants Clarian has done has more than tripled since 2001, the year Tector arrived from the University of Miami School of Medicine. His team handles all abdominal transplants, which include the liver, pancreas, kidneys and intestines. Other surgeons handle heart and lung transplants.

Tector has hired most of the other surgeons on Clarian’s abdominal team and helped train a dedicated staff of 100 nurses and other assistants.

“The real growth of the program started when he came,” said Dr. Tim Taber, director of kidney transplant patients at Clarian. Taber said the 42-year-old Tector is a virtuoso in the operating room. “He is Mozart.”

At the same time Fridell was working on the pancreas, Tector leaned over a liver patient in an operating room down the hall. A faint burning smell filled the room as his electric cauterizing tool methodically cut loose the patient’s liver.

Techno music thumped off the blue and white tile of the operating room from speakers connected to an iPod. Without a word exchanged, a nurse handed Tector whatever tool he needed exactly when he needed it.

“It’s really teamwork,” Tector said. “The group that we’ve set up works really well together.”

Tector’s team takes about two hours for each liver transplant, while other surgeons take as much as six hours. Fridell does pancreas transplants in about three hours.

In 2007, officials from the transplant division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services visited Clarian to see how its surgeons had raised their volumes so dramatically. In a publication last year, the agency recommended some of Clarian’s practices, along with those of seven other transplant programs around the country.

One key reason Clarian does more procedures is it accepts organs others reject. Doctors turn down donated organs for various reasons. Perhaps the organ offered doesn’t fit their patient or comes from an older donor when the doctor’s recipient is young.

But they also reject organs because of concerns about the donor’s health. For example, many transplant surgeons would reject the liver of an alcoholic. But Tector’s team will go take a look at the liver to see for themselves.

“So the patient drank a lot. That could make a liver bad, but it doesn’t have to,” Tector said. “A lot of times you go look and—Holy Toledo!—this thing’s a great organ.”

Tector defends his method by noting Clarian’s transplant survival rates, which exceed national averages.

His approach also has cut down on waiting times. Since Tector arrived to do liver transplants, Clarian’s average wait time for a new liver has dropped from 27 months to one month, he said.

Just over half of Clarian’s transplant candidates have been waiting more than a year. Nationally, nearly two-thirds of transplant candidates have been waiting that long.

By doing a higher number of transplants, Tector and Fridell said, Clarian’s transplant surgeons and nurses get better at the procedures, make fewer mistakes, and handle complications more easily.

Some doctors uneasy

But other doctors say the real question is whether a patient, particularly one not in critical need of a new organ, would have survived just as well without a transplant.

Researchers at the University of Michigan published a study in February showing that patients with less severe needs for a liver transplant actually have a greater chance of dying if they get a new liver transplant than if they don’t.

Patients’ need for livers is measured by something called a MELD score, which stands for Model for End-stage Liver Disease. Scores can range from 6 to 40, with higher numbers indicating a greater need for a new liver. In general, doctors consider patients with scores of more than 15 as having a critical need. Patients with scores less than 15 are considered in less need.

Since 2005, one-third of Clarian’s liver transplant procedures were done in patients with MELD scores below 15, according to data from the United Network of Organ Sharing.

“Pairing of [high-risk] livers with lower-MELD candidates fails to maximize survival benefit and may deny lifesaving organs to high-MELD candidates who are at high risk of death without transplantation,” wrote Dr. Robert Merion and four of his colleagues at Michigan’s Department of Biostatistics, in an article published by the American Journal of Transplantation.

Tector and Fridell face two state complaints from the families of patients who died after receiving a liver transplant at Clarian. Steven Nelson was 46. Gail E. Biggs was 59. Their surviving family members filed complaints with the Indiana Patient’s Compensation Fund in 2005, and both cases are still pending.

“They’re both really nice people. And they didn’t live. And that hurts,” Tector said. The attorney for the Nelson family declined to comment. The attorney for the Biggs family could not be reached for comment.

Still, Tector is skeptical of the Michigan researchers’ findings. In any case, he said, they don’t really apply to Clarian’s program. Since wait times are so short at Clarian, he said, he’s not skipping over higher-need patients in order to do a transplant for a lower-need patient.

But the incentive to do just that is there, according to a 2005 Northwestern University study, because it’s less profitable to do a transplant for a sicker patient. The MELD system, implemented in 2002, has led hospitals to do even more transplants in the sickest patients. That caused profit margins to decline 114 percent from 2000 to 2003.

Tector acknowledged that his team’s aggressive approach “doesn’t hurt” the surgeons’ and hospital’s incomes. But he and Fridell said their focus is on making sure no one dies waiting for a transplant.

“If you’re going to get everybody transplanted, you have to use every organ out there,” said Fridell, the day after doing the pancreas transplant. The donation from the University of Michigan hadn’t worked out. But in another hour, he said, he’d be on a plane to Evansville to look at another pancreas.

“The lifestyle of a transplant surgeon is unpredictable,” he said.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network
For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

Your generosity can save up to eight lives through organ donation and enhance another 50 through tissue donation

Friday, May 16, 2008

Nevada Officials Look to Improve Organ Transplant Programs

From Las Vegas Now:

Right now, 500 people in Nevada are waiting for life saving organ transplants. Yet here in Clark County, many are forced to go elsewhere for treatment.

Glen "Gondo" Gondrezick is one of those people. He's a former Runnin' Rebel basketball star and radio announcer for the team. He needs a heart transplant and has been in intensive care since last week. He may be able to leave the hospital Thursday.

But if a heart is found, he will still need to travel to California for the surgery. That could soon change. UMC and Sunrise Hospital are taking a major step in improving transplant programs here in the valley. It makes the two hospitals eligible to transplant other organs in the future, but it will take time to get there.

Right now, doctors in Las Vegas only transplant kidneys at two hospitals. In 2007 University Medical Center performed 40 kidney transplants. Sunrise did 26. The hospitals announced they will merge their transplant units and all the surgeries will be at UMC.

There are currently 200 people in southern Nevada waiting for an organ other than a kidney. All of them must leave the state for those procedures. 300 people in southern Nevada are waiting for kidneys. Those procedures will be done at UMC.

In the hospital world, there is a magic number of 50. When one center reaches 50 kidney transplants a year, the hospital receives a Centers for Excellence designation. That opens the door to add transplants for other organs down the road.

Ken Richardson with the Nevada Donor Network says an area as large as we are should be transplanting other organs.

"We are probably now the largest community in the U.S. with two million people that does not have a liver transplant program," he said.

The head of UMC says she wants to expand to liver transplants in the future as a way to continue to expand. The merger will be effective July 1st. All patients are being notified through a letter.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network
For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

Your generosity can save up to eight lives through organ donation and enhance another 50 through tissue donation

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Push for science to solve organ shortage

We are beginning to see more and more stories about transplant research that may someday have an impact on the organ donation rate and give hope to the thousands of patients waiting for a transplant. As this article notes, scientists have grown skin, bone, cartilage and blood vessels for transplant in patients. The feat, Dr. Doris Taylor told The New York Times, "opens the door to this notion that you can make any organ: kidney, liver, lung, pancreas - you name it and we hope we can make it."

From Concord Monitor in New Hampshire:

At any given time in America, nearly 100,000 people are waiting for an organ transplant. Yesterday a chilling story in The Boston Globe demonstrated how desperate the ill can become, lingering on the waiting list for years. Two patients, a 57-year-old man and a 70-year-old woman, each agreed to accept a kidney from a deceased donor whose organs were approved under new "expanded" criteria. The kidneys they received came from a 49-year-old homeless man.

The tight transplant timetable and the cost of running the multitude of tests that can now be performed means that most organs are tested only for some of them - AIDS and hepatitis, for example. The homeless donor, however, carried a rare virus that is usually found in rats. The female transplant patient died and, as of yesterday, the male patient was fighting for his life.

When the alternative is death, most patients and most medical professionals are willing to gamble. At least one study has found that recipients who are older and people who received organs approved under the expanded standards - like those from an older donor or someone with high blood pressure - face only a slightly elevated risk.

Medical progress ensures that organ demand always outstrips the supply. That's creating ethical dilemmas that need to be resolved. It is illegal to sell a human organ but legal to donate one.

It is permissible to specify the recipient of one's organ, allowing that person to jump ahead of others whose time may be shorter. But people often advertise widely for an donated organ using a particularly poignant story that may or may not be accurate. Should they be allowed to shortcut the process designed to make sure that organs go to those whose need is most urgent?

Should it be illegal to sell a human organ? The director of bioethics studies at the libertarian Cato Institute and others with faith in market solutions to problems believes that it should be, given informed consent. If it saves lives, and it no doubt would, shouldn't the sale of an organ or organ tissue be allowed?

To increase the supply of viable organs for transplant, the meaning of death is being reclassified to include not just "brain death" but cardiac arrest. There is, however, disagreement over how long a person's heart must remain stopped before death can be declared and organs removed.

These questions will take on added urgency as baby boomers age and more older patients seek and benefit from organ transplants. But an end to such dilemmas is looking more likely all the time.

Scientists have grown skin, bone, cartilage and blood vessels for transplant in patients. In 2006, Boston researchers successfully grew and implanted tissue that formed roughly half the bladders of seven young patients. And this year, a University of Minnesota research team revealed that it had taken the valves and "architecture" of a heart from a dead rat that had been scrubbed of all its cells and seeded it with cells from a newborn rat. Within months, in a petri dish in their lab, a new rat heart was beating and pumping a small amount of blood.

The feat, Dr. Doris Taylor told The New York Times, "opens the door to this notion that you can make any organ: kidney, liver, lung, pancreas - you name it and we hope we can make it."

For tens of thousands of people, that day can't come soon enough. In the meantime, unless many more people sign up to be organ donors, the only hope for some patients lies in accepting an organ from a homeless donor.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network
For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

Your generosity can save up to eight lives through organ donation and enhance another 50 through tissue donation

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Kidney transplant donor to climb Mount Blanc

Steve Gannon

Living kidney donor Steve Gannon, with his one remaining kidney, will be climbing Mont-Blanc this June

The Mont Blanc Ascent and organ donation from living donors - Two challenges to out do oneself

MONTREAL, May 13 /CNW Telbec/ - The adventure that brothers Mike and Steve Gannon experienced is anything but ordinary: In June 2007, Steve donated one of his kidneys to Mike, allowing him to regain a normal life. Indeed organ donation between living individuals is still very rare, despite its numerous benefits to both to the donors and the recipients.

In order to inform the public about this altruistic type of donation, Roche Canada, the Kidney Foundation of Canada, Quebec Branch and the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM) have joined their efforts to organize the Mont Blanc Ascent, consisting of a team of 12 climbers who will scale the highest mountain in the Alps.

One year later, Mike is in good health, and his brother Steve will join the Mont Blanc Ascent, beginning on the French side of the mountain, in Chamonix, from June 12th to the 18th. "By climbing one of the tallest peaks in Europe, which is an achievement in itself, we want to symbolically show how this type of organ donation represents the challenge of outdoing oneself. A donor with only a single kidney can accomplish this feat," explains Mr. Marc Laroche, Manager of Service Operations, Professional Services at Roche Diagnostics, and one of the visionaries of the project. "The advantages of organ donation between living individuals are numerous. The psychological benefits for the donor definitely exceed the risks of donating," added Dr. Michel R. Pâquet, nephrologist and President of the CHUM Organ Donation Committee, who is serving as the project's consulting specialist and who will also climb Mont Blanc. "Donors must be in excellent heath in order to minimize the short- and long-term risks of damaging the remaining kidney," he said.

More than 32,000 Canadians suffer from kidney failure, including more than 7,000 individuals in Québec, who often require hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, or a graft. A kidney transplant, particularly from a living donor, constitutes the best treatment for patients suffering from kidney failure.

To learn more about the Mont Blanc Ascent, to become a living donor or to contribute to the Kidney Foundation of Canada, please visit Mont-Blanc 2008.com.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network
For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

Your generosity can save up to eight lives through organ donation and enhance another 50 through tissue donation

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Surgery beta blockers 'up risk'

I was placed on the beta-blocker metoprolol (LoPressor) following my lung transplant six years ago and have been on it ever since. Now I wonder if any of the side effects mentioned in this article could apply to me post transplant?

From BBC News:

The use of beta blocker drugs before surgery to cut the risk of heart problems may be counter-productive, a study suggests.

Researchers found patients given the drugs were a third more likely to die within a month of surgery than those given a dummy pill.

Those on the blood pressure-lowering drugs also had double the risk of having a stroke.

The study, by Canada's McMaster University, appears in The Lancet.

Although use of the drugs did reduce the risk of a heart attack following surgery, the researchers concluded that on balance they did more harm than good.

They estimate use of the drugs before surgery may have contributed to at least 800,000 deaths worldwide in the past decade.

Professor Peter Weissberg, medical director of the British Heart Foundation, said the research emphasised the importance of undertaking large clinical trials, rather than assuming that drugs will only do what is expected of them.

"Fortunately, the practice of giving beta blockers to all patients at risk of vascular disease before surgery is not widespread in the UK.

"Also, the results of this trial - of a relatively high dose of a beta blocker given before surgery - do not mean patients stabilised on long term beta blocker therapy will be at increased risk if they have surgery."

Researcher Dr PJ Devereaux said: "There is a real potential that beta blockers are causing serious harm in the surgical setting.

"If my mother was undergoing surgery and given a beta blocker, I would be extremely upset based on this evidence."

Counter to stress

It has long been thought that using beta blockers before major surgery protects the heart against the stress of the procedure.

Surgery often raises levels of a stress hormone known as catecholamine, which drives up a person's blood pressure and heart rate.

Beta blockers block the effects of increased catecholamines.

The McMaster team studied more than 8,000 patients in 23 countries who were undergoing major surgery unrelated to the heart, but who had or were at risk of clogged arteries.

Half were given the beta blocker metoprolol two to four hours before and 30 days after their surgery. The other half got a placebo.

The results suggests that the use of beta blockers could prevent 15 out of every 1,000 people with similar risks undergoing similar surgery from having a heart attack.

However, eight more people would die, five more would have a stroke, 53% would have abnormally low blood pressure and 42% would have an abnormally slow heart beat.

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Monday, May 12, 2008

The 18-year-old girl who has had three hearts

Leanne Nicholson
From the Daily Mail in London, England:
Leanne Nicholson is in many ways like any other 18-year-old. Slim, blonde, pretty, and planning a career as a youth worker, she is devoted to her pony Merrylegs and her fluffy Pomeranian dog Timothy.

But she is also a medical miracle, and lucky to be alive.

In her short life Leanne has had no fewer than three hearts - the one she was born with and not one, but two transplanted hearts.

Today, she is recovering at her home in Choppington, in Northumberland, from her second heart transplant three months ago.

"To receive a second heart transplant is a million-to-one chance as there is such a shortage of donor organs," says Leanne.

"I know now I have to do the very best I can with my life and make the most of the chances I've been given.

"I'm just so grateful to the families who lost their loved ones and took the difficult decision to donate their hearts for transplantation. I think about them every day, without fail."

Until the age of 12, Leanne was a normal, healthy child.

"She used to be outside doing handstands and riding ponies all the time. She was the picture of health," says her mother Helen, 40, a youth worker.

But in April 2002 a virus - unnamed and unknown - swept through her body, attacking the muscle tissue of her heart.

"At first we thought Leanne had flu," says her father Robert, also 40, who runs a cleaning company.

"We had no idea how ill she was. She just seemed under the weather. Then she began to be listless and had difficulty walking up the stairs.

"So we took her to our GP. The doctor listened to her heart and visibly went pale. The next thing we knew we were rushing to hospital in an ambulance.

"At the hospital we were with Leanne in a treatment room surrounded by so many doctors we lost count. After what seemed like forever one of them took us aside to tell us the bad news."

Leanne was diagnosed with severe cardiomyopathy, literally "heart muscle disease".

Her heart was so damaged by the virus - which by then had passed out of her system - that the doctors said it was as though she'd suffered three major heart attacks.

The upper two chambers of her heart were not functioning at all and the lower two were barely beating. Leanne was put on life support.

"The next morning she was no better and the prospect of a heart transplant was mentioned to us for the first time," says Helen.

"I was horrified and totally numb. You get almost jellified with fear for your child. I had difficulty stringing a sentence together and could barely walk."

Leanne was listed as requiring a heart transplant at Newcastle's Freeman Hospital, a centre of excellence for the surgery.

She was put to the top of the waiting list as a "super urgent" patient (for those who are so unwell they cannot leave hospital) and the transplant team sought donors for her via computer link-ups, not just in the UK but worldwide.

The Nicholsons watched, waited and prayed in the hospital chapel that a suitable match would be found.

Doctors who organise transplant matches try to minimise the likelihood of the body rejecting a heart. Finding an exact tissue match between two completely unrelated individuals is very difficult, but a perfect match is not always necessary because rejection can be overcome through the use of immunosuppressive drugs.

"We were told that without a transplant we would be saying goodbye to Leanne within days," says Helen.

But within 48 hours, they received positive news. A possible heart was available.

"We stayed up all night on pure adrenaline, as you're told so many things might go wrong. You can't be sure of anything until the heart actually arrives," says Helen.

"That night was very clear and still and you could have heard a pin drop.

"At 2.45am I realised I could hear sirens shrieking from miles away. The transplant coordinator told us the good news with a huge grin on her face - it was Leanne's new heart, being raced to us by ambulance from a hospital in Cambridgeshire.

"We were in the foyer to see it arrive. A doctor literally ran in, carrying the box with the heart in it. But he found the time to look across to us and give us the thumbs-up.

"I'll never forget the feeling of intense thankfulness and awe. It was almost overwhelming to think that someone had died and that their organ donation was giving Leanne a chance of life."

All the Nicholsons know is that the heart came from a young woman who had died of a head injury. "Our gratitude to her and her family is limitless," says Robert.

The transplant was that morning and, to everyone's huge relief, it was a success. After several weeks of recovery, at first in a high-dependency ward, Leanne went home. Read the full story and view more pictures.

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Sunday, May 11, 2008

Young woman receives double-lung transplant

Haley Gall

Fifteen-year-old Haley Gall is only the second pediatric Cystic Fibrosis patient to receive a double-lung transplant at Capital Health's Stollery Children's Hospital. Here she blows out the candle on a cupcake to demonstrate how well her new lungs work. She will be able to do it for real on June 25 when she turns 16. Photo Rick MacWilliam / Edmonton Journal

From the Calgary Herald (Canada):

Catherine Griwkowsky , The Edmonton Journal (Canada)
Haley Gall blew out a 16th birthday candle atop a tower of cupcakes at the Stollery Children's Hospital today.

Cystic fibrosis meant she couldn't blow out candles before. Now she can, thanks to an anonymous organ donor who allowed her to become the youngest patient at the Stollery to receive a double lung transplant.

"Now that I have lungs, I can live again," Gall told a news conference.

Gall went in for surgery April 10, two days after being told she was going to die. She was on the organ donor list for six weeks.

Dr. Jackson Wong, a pediatric pulmonologist, said lung transplants are difficult - only a few are done Canada-wide per year - but medical advances are allowing the tricky surgery to be successfully performed on younger patients.

Wong said there's "no magic equation" to see how long Gall will live.

"Every breath was a struggle," Wong said. "Her life expectancy is much better than before."

She will be discharged tomorrow.

Facts

- The first single and double lung transplants in the world, were both performed in Canada

- 1 in 3,600 children in Canada have cystic fibrosis

- the University of Alberta is one of five hospitals in Canada to perform lung transplants

- There is still not a cure for cystic fibrosis

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network
For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

Your generosity can save up to eight lives through organ donation and enhance another 50 through tissue donation